Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Certification
Timeline
Generic

Shiraz Latif

Waterdown,Ontario

Summary

I am a qualified and experienced BI Professional with over 8 years of experience in data analytics, business Intelligence reporting, dashboarding, data quality assurance, and data governance policies. I've driven substantial outcomes including a 60% efficiency enhancement for BI recurring reports and a notable 30% elevation in customer Net Promoter Score through team training and adopting best practices in BI. Additionally, I led the formulation of data governance policies and successfully trained BI team on modern tools and technologies. Being a certified Project Management Professional, I am proficient in project management principles and adept at implementing agile methodologies to drive successful project outcomes.

Overview

18
18
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Business Intelligence Technical Lead

Definity Financial
01.2024 - Current
  • Developed a team of high-performing BI technical professionals, fostering their growth and collaboration to achieve excellence in BI reporting under my direct leadership
  • Led collaborative effort for BI reporting migration to Google Cloud Platform, achieving 60% efficiency boost for recurring reports
  • Implemented agile methodologies and encouraged use of Jira and confluence, resulting in an improvement in team productivity and project delivery, along with 30% increase in customer Net Promoter Score
  • Collaborated with Finance department for migrating financial reporting to IFRS-17 standard and providing technical and analytical support for report reconciliations.
  • Conducted comprehensive training sessions for a team of 12 business intelligence professionals on Tableau dashboard development, GCP tools including BigQuery, Vertex AI, Jupyter Notebooks, Google Cloud Storage, and Cloud Composer, as well as Collibra and Bitbucket platforms
  • Spearheaded the development, implementation, and training of data governance policies for the business intelligence team, integrating Collibra data governance and data quality tools to ensure consistency, accuracy, and compliance across BI processes
  • Architect and Designed BI solutions based on customer requirements and helping with project management including resource and time estimation, scheduling and prioritization, resource allocation, project documentation, risk assessment and management, project performance tracking, stakeholder management and effective communication at all stages of project lifecycle
  • Provided instrumental support to senior leadership in formulating and aligning the business intelligence strategy with the overarching corporate vision, ensuring strategic coherence and direction
  • Conducted research on modernizing BI processes, technologies, and tools, and presented findings to senior leadership, facilitating informed decisions on implementation for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness
  • Served as the primary BI point of contact for strategic corporate initiatives such as cloud migration, claims transformation, merger and acquisitions, and demutualization, ensuring seamless integration of BI solutions to support organizational objectives
  • Spearheaded the recruitment, hiring, and professional development initiatives for a BI operations team, overseeing their training and growth to ensure proficiency and cohesion in operational processes under my leadership
  • Standardized BI request intake processes using ServiceNow, enhancing customer service by ensuring transparency in processes, facilitating easy status monitoring, improving logging, and fostering efficient communication channels
  • Offered strategic planning expertise for BI reporting and recurrent job automation projects, resulting in significant reductions in manual efforts and enhanced operational efficiency
  • Demonstrated effective stakeholder management, fostering maximum engagement and delivering the highest standard of service across projects
  • Architect and Designed BI solutions based on customer requirements and helping with project management

Data Science Subject Matter Expert

Sheridan College
01.2017 - Current
  • Contributed to the design of Sheridan College's Data Science Certificate program as a valued team member, leveraging expertise in data science and education to develop a comprehensive curriculum
  • Designed courses on 'Business Problem Analysis and Data Modeling' and 'Data Visualization and Communication,' along with leading the development of the Data Science Capstone project, as integral components of Sheridan College's Data Science Certificate program
  • Taught courses on 'SAS Programming' and 'Business Problem Analysis and Data Modeling' within the Faculty of Continuing and Professional Studies, facilitating comprehensive learning experiences for students seeking to enhance their skills in data analysis and problem-solving methodologies.

Sr. BI Professional

Definity Financial
Waterloo, Ontario
01.2018 - 12.2021
  • Developed BI solutions, products, reports and dashboards, centered around various Key Risk Indicators (KRI) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) aimed at providing clients with enhanced insights from available data resources
  • Built Data pipelines and ETL processes for predictive analytics projects
  • Engaged in a spectrum of analytics domains including claim analytics, fraud analytics, legal and litigation analytics, process improvement, spend analytics, profitability assessment, procurement decisions, as well as Salvage and Subrogation referrals analysis and Risk analytics
  • Efficient handling of BI request from gathering and documenting business requirements, exploring and extracting required data, cleaning and manipulation of dataset, analysis of the available data, developing reports and reconciling to benchmarks while following project management strategies and adopting agile methodology
  • Hands-on experience with a variety of analytics tools including Tableau, SAS, R, SQL, Impala, Hive, Hadoop, IBM Cognos, IBM Data studio, Excel, Power Pivot and Power Query.

Data Analyst/BI Consultant

Versapay
12.2017 - 04.2018
  • Revolutionized business reporting by migrating from Excel spreadsheets to dynamic Tableau dashboards, benefiting sales, finance, marketing, client success, and product teams with interactive and insightful data visualization solutions
  • Led end-to-end project management, collaborating with various teams to gather requirements and conduct thorough business problem analysis, resulting in the proposal of innovative analytics solutions tailored to meet organizational needs
  • Integrated Unified corporate data sources including MySQL, Salesforce, and spreadsheet data, processed them using Alteryx Designer, and presented insights through interactive Tableau dashboards
  • These dashboards dynamically showcased updated business performance, period-over-period comparisons, and emerging trends, facilitating informed decision-making.

Analyst - Forecasting, Insights And Analytics

Mondelez International Canada
08.2016 - 10.2017
  • Retrieved, compiled, structured and analyzed CPG industry syndicated data through Nielsen Answers for solving business problem, better decision making, optimization of resources and identifying business growth opportunities
  • Performed market mix modeling and multivariate regression to generate forecasting for sales and inventory based on drivers at retail stores including price, promotion and displays
  • Prepared and updated Tableau dashboards for business KPIs, category performance, market share and competitor analysis
  • Forecasted inventory at different customers and provide recommendations for inventory optimization
  • Automated business reports using VBA, PowerPivot and Power Query in Excel
  • Presented business solutions and recommendations to market managers, business development team and brand managers.

Computer Science & Maths Instructor

TAIE International Institute
02.2016 - 07.2016
  • Taught courses on Mathematics, Statistics and Data Management
  • Developed and taught course on Computer Programming using Python.

Assoc. Professor & Head Quality Assurance Reporting

Usman Institute of Technology
12.2006 - 08.2015
  • Lead and contributed as a vital member of the UIT R&D team, engaged in diverse analytics projects tailored for academia
  • These initiatives spanned a range of areas, including data management, data analysis, predictive modeling and optimization
  • As the Quality Assurance Team Lead, I oversaw Self-Assessment Reporting, ensuring compliance and accuracy in all facets of quality assurance processes
  • Led the collection of feedback from students, faculty, and industry stakeholders to conduct comprehensive surveys aimed at performing descriptive analysis on university performance factors and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
  • As the Manager of Engineering Projects, I spearheaded a team of young engineers in the development of in-house projects, overseeing their execution from conception to completion.

Data Analysis Consultant

Outreach Marketing Services
03.2012 - 09.2013
  • Performed exploratory data analysis and spatial analysis based on market segmentation and customer geographical distribution for better understanding of customer requirements and satisfaction level
  • Prepared reports and presented research findings to the management for better business penetration and assist in deciding marketing strategies and identifying potential growth opportunities.

Data Analysis Consultant

Market Committee Karachi
06.2011 - 09.2013
  • Performed data collection, validation, data cleaning and data manipulation of agricultural products export at shipping port for commodity export trends and tax purposes
  • Developed database, prepared regular reports and performed adhoc analysis for answering business challenge.

Education

Certificate in Data Science & Machine Learning -

University of Toronto
07.2024

Graduate Certificate in Analytics for Business Decision Making -

George Brown College
08.2016

PhD Information & Communication Technology -

Mehran University of Engineering & Technology
12.2014

Master of Science in Electronics Engg. -

Hamdard University
08.2007

Master of Science in Computer Science -

National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences
12.2006

Bachelor of Engineering -

NED Univ. of Engg. & Technology
01.2002

Skills

  • Data Strategy
  • Python
  • Tableau
  • SAS
  • R
  • Google Cloud
  • Confluence
  • JIRA
  • Salesforce
  • ServiceNow
  • SharePoint
  • Alteryx
  • AirFlow
  • Hive
  • Impala
  • BigQuery
  • Google Looker Studio
  • BitBucket
  • Cloud Composer
  • Collibra

Certification

  • Project Management Professional, 01/2023
  • Tableau Desktop Qualified Associate, 10/2017
  • SAS Certified Base Programmer, 08/2015
  • Microsoft Certified Excel Expert, 10/2015
  • Microsoft Certified Access Specialist, 10/2015

Timeline

Business Intelligence Technical Lead

Definity Financial
01.2024 - Current

Sr. BI Professional

Definity Financial
01.2018 - 12.2021

Data Analyst/BI Consultant

Versapay
12.2017 - 04.2018

Data Science Subject Matter Expert

Sheridan College
01.2017 - Current

Analyst - Forecasting, Insights And Analytics

Mondelez International Canada
08.2016 - 10.2017

Computer Science & Maths Instructor

TAIE International Institute
02.2016 - 07.2016

Data Analysis Consultant

Outreach Marketing Services
03.2012 - 09.2013

Data Analysis Consultant

Market Committee Karachi
06.2011 - 09.2013

Assoc. Professor & Head Quality Assurance Reporting

Usman Institute of Technology
12.2006 - 08.2015

Certificate in Data Science & Machine Learning -

University of Toronto

Graduate Certificate in Analytics for Business Decision Making -

George Brown College

PhD Information & Communication Technology -

Mehran University of Engineering & Technology

Master of Science in Electronics Engg. -

Hamdard University

Master of Science in Computer Science -

National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences

Bachelor of Engineering -

NED Univ. of Engg. & Technology

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Shiraz Latif